Delinquency Stages determine how and when storEDGE automates or assigns tasks to a unit that is overdue on rent. It's a great way to reduce your workload and rely on the software to remind you of important actions that need to be taken or even do the work for you!
Your delinquency stage settings are located within your Corporate account.
Navigate to Settings from the left-side navigation bar from within your Corporate account.
Select Software Settings from the top navigation bar.
Click Current Schedules from underneath the Delinquency header.
The first step in setting up or making adjustments to your delinquency stages is determining whether or not the stage needs to be a recurring delinquency stage (can occur once every billing period) or a non-recurring delinquency stage (occurs just one time when rent is unpaid). You can read about both of these types of delinquency in more detail on our help site. This article is intended to advise you on:
Adding a delinquency stage
To add a new delinquency stage, click the Edit button next to the schedule you'd like to add to from within the Delinquency Schedules page. You will be directed to a page specific to that delinquency schedule. Click Add New Stage from the top of the delinquency schedule's table.
An Add New Stage slider will populate on the right side of the schedule's table.
- Description: Use this field to provide a name for the delinquency stage. If you want this stage to be a recurring stage, check the box next to Recurring and enter the date within each billing period that the resulting action will be triggered.
Example: Send Lien Notice, Schedule Auction - Set the number of days past the date that rent is due that you want the delinquency stage to take effect.
- If the setting is for days past rent due, the corresponding delinquency actions will trigger once based on how many days delinquent the unit is.
- If the setting is for days past previous action, the corresponding delinquency actions will trigger only the set amount of days after the previous action has been completed.
- Recurring: If the Recurring box is checked, then the number entered here will specify which day in the service period that the delinquency action will trigger within each period.
- Non-recurring: If the Recurring box is not checked, this action will trigger once, only where it is placed.
- Add Action: This action can be dependent upon the previous action or independent and based on days past rent due. See below for a detailed list of possible resulting actions.
If the Action you select is Print Mail, Send Lien Notice, Send Auction Notice, or Send Email, you’ll be prompted to select the document associated with that action that you’d like to send. You can learn more about documents and emails on our help site.
- File Upload Required: Check this box to require a document to be uploaded before a user is able to complete the delinquency step. Once this checkbox is selected, you will see the alert shown below on any non-automated action that requires a file upload within your delinquency schedule. The Complete button will also be greyed out until the file has been uploaded.
Click the Save button to save your new delinquency stage.
Delinquency actions
The following resulting actions can be applied to your delinquency stages. There are two types of actions - those that add an item to your Task List for you to complete and automated actions. An automated action means that storEDGE will automatically complete this task for you rather than adding it to the Task List for you to manually complete. Automated tasks are denoted below with an asterisk (*Automated Action).
- Add Fee: Select this option to allow your software to automatically charge a fee on the day of the billing cycle you select. You will then need to select the fee to be added from the dropdown menu provided. You cannot use a custom fee in delinquency stages.
*Automated Action - Call Tenant: Select this option to allow your software to notify you via the Task List to call the tenant.
- Cancel Insurance: Select this option to automatically cancel insurance coverage from the unit's ledger. This is an automated task, which means storEDGE will automatically complete this task for you rather than adding it to the Task List for you to manually complete.
*Automated Action - Cut Lock: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List to cut the lock of a unit.
- Gate Lockout: Select this option to automatically lock out a tenant from your gate on the day of the billing cycle you select. The Gate Lockout action can only be used if your facility has its gate integrated with storEDGE.
*Automated Action - Lien: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List to mark the unit as being in lien status.
- Note: When a tenant reaches this stage, they will not be able to process a payment or move out via the Rental Center or any 3rd party (kiosk, call center, etc). They will receive a message stating, "You are unable to make a payment in your current delinquent state, please contact the facility for more information."
- Overlock: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List to overlock a unit. It is best practice to have the Overlock action in its own delinquency stage. Including it in other stages can cause unexpected results.
- Print Certified Mail: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List to mail a certified letter to the tenant. You will need to specify a document/letter using the dropdown menu provided. Selecting the Additionally Email Tenant & Recipient checkbox will send an email to any delinquent tenant with a valid email address on file in addition to creating the printed document for you to mail. Once you select the Additionally Email Tenant & Recipient checkbox, you will then be given the option to Send Email first with Letter backup. This means an email will be sent in place of the letter if there is a valid email address on file. If there is no valid email address on file, a letter will be sent as a backup to this action.
- Print Mail: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List to mail a printed letter to the tenant. You will need to specify a document/letter using the dropdown menu provided. Selecting the Additionally Email Tenant & Recipient checkbox will send an email to any delinquent tenant with a valid email address on file in addition to creating the printed document for you to mail. Once you select the Additionally Email Tenant & Recipient checkbox, you will then be given the option to Send Email first with Letter backup. This means an email will be sent in place of the letter if there is a valid email address on file. If there is no valid email address on file, a letter will be sent as a backup to this action.
- Schedule Auction: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List that a unit is ready to be scheduled for an auction. It is best practice to have the Schedule Auction action in its own delinquency stage. See the Auction Manager help article for more information on scheduling auctions.
- Send Auction Notice: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List to send an auction notice. You will need to specify a document/letter using the dropdown menu provided. The Send Auction Notice action should be used when an auction date needs to be included in the auction notice. The document/letter selected for this action must include an auction date replacement field such as [[delinquency_tenant_event.auction_date.mdy]] or [[delinquency_tenant_event.auction_date.with_time]]. When the Send Auction Notice task appears in your task list, you will be prompted to enter the auction date before the notice will be generated. If you are using the Auction Manager and have the Send Auction Notice action dependent upon the Schedule Auction action, the auction date will be automatically filled in and the notice will be automatically generated when the unit is added to a scheduled auction. Selecting the Additionally Email Tenant & Recipient checkbox will send an email to any delinquent tenant with a valid email address on file in addition to creating the printed document for you to mail. Once you select the Additionally Email Tenant & Recipient checkbox, you will then be given the option to Send Email first with Letter backup. This means an email will be sent in place of the letter if there is a valid email address on file. If there is no valid email address on file, a letter will be sent as a backup to this action.
- Send Email: Select this option to prompt your software to send a templated email notification to any delinquent tenant with a valid email address on file.
*Automated Action - Send Insurance Cancellation: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List to mail an insurance cancellation notice to the tenant. You will need to specify a document/letter using the dropdown menu provided. Selecting the Additionally Email Tenant & Recipient checkbox will send an email to any delinquent tenant with a valid email address on file in addition to creating the printed document for you to mail. Once you select the Additionally Email Tenant & Recipient checkbox, you will then be given the option to Send Email first with Letter backup. This means an email will be sent in place of the letter if there is a valid email address on file. If there is no valid email address on file, a letter will be sent as a backup to this action.
- Send Lien Notice: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List to send a lien notice. You will need to specify a document/letter using the dropdown menu provided. The Send Lien Notice action should be used when a lien date needs to be included in the notice. The document/letter selected for this action must include a lien date replacement field such as [[delinquency_tenant_event.lien_date.mdy]] or [[delinquency_tenant_event.lien_date.long]]. When the Send Lien Notice task appears in your Task List, you will be prompted to enter the lien date before the notice will be generated. Selecting the Additionally Email Tenant & Recipient checkbox will send an email to any delinquent tenant with a valid email address on file in addition to creating the printed document for you to mail. Once you select the Additionally Email Tenant & Recipient checkbox, you will then be given the option to Send Email first with Letter backup. This means an email will be sent in place of the letter if there is a valid email address on file. If there is no valid email address on file, a letter will be sent as a backup to this action.
- Send Pre Lien Notice: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List to send a pre lien notice. You will need to specify a document/letter using the dropdown menu provided. The Send Pre Lien Notice action should be used when a lien date needs to be included in the notice that is dependent on when the pre lien was sent. The document/letter selected for this action must include a lien date replacement field such as [[delinquency_tenant_event.lien_dependent_prelien_date.mdy]] or [[delinquency_tenant_event.lien_dependent_prelien_date.long]]. When the Send Pre Lien Notice task appears in your task list, the system will populate the lien date in the notice based on the number of days between your Send Pre Lien Notice stage and your Send Lien Notice stage as long as the Send Lien Notice stage is dependent on the Send Pre Lien Notice stage. The lien_dependent_prelien_date will exclude Sundays, Holidays and Observed Holidays (US and CA only) when these days fall on the start date of the time frame. (Note: When using the lien_dependent_prelien_datethe Send Lien Notice stage needs to be set as Action Post Marked.)
- Selecting the Additionally Email Tenants & Recipients checkbox will send an email to any delinquent tenant with a valid email address on file in addition to creating the printed document for you to mail. It will also give you the option to Send Email first with Letter backup which will allow you to send an email by default, then a letter if the email address on file doesn’t process.
- Send SMS: Select this option to prompt your software to automatically send a templated SMS (text) message to any delinquent tenant with a valid mobile phone number on file. This is an automated task. Automated SMS messages are sent at 8 am local time on the day of the billing cycle you select.
*Automated Action - Custom Task: Select this option to prompt your software to notify you via the Task List to complete a delinquency action outside of storEDGE. The description of the task you enter will be the description that displays on the Task List and in the tenant's account history. Use this task for reminders such as creating a newspaper ad.
If you’re interested in automating any of your delinquency stages that result in mailing communications to a tenant, learn more by reading about our Mail House feature.
Advanced Delinquency Settings
⚠ Changes to either of the advanced delinquency settings below will create a new schedule version and will only apply to tenants who enter delinquency after changes are made. The changes will not effect tenants that are currently in delinquency.
Reverse delinquency for partial payments
If you want a unit to revert to a previous delinquency stage when a partial payment is made, check the box below and select the stage from the dropdown list.
Advance delinquency for payment reversals
If you would like to limit how far into delinquency the unit can go when a payment is reversed, check the box below and select the delinquency stage.
When a payment is reversed, relevant delinquency stages will be triggered up to but not beyond the stage selected in this setting. A tenant's "Days Past Due" will correspond with the day of their billing cycle however, since delinquency is started the day the payment is reversed, the next step in the delinquency cycle (if any) will be triggered based on the day they entered delinquency.
For example:
A payment is reversed for a non-delinquent tenant on the 10th day of their billing cycle.
- The tenant will be listed as 9 days past due on the Past Due page.
- A payment reversal stage is set up for 5 days past due, so delinquency stages up to the Payment Reversal stage will be applied.
- Because delinquency was started the day of the payment reversal, if there is another stage set up on day 14, it will be applied 2 weeks after the day thee tenant entered delinquency.
If you’ve set your Advanced Delinquency Settings to advance in the event of an NSF, chargeback, or reversed payment, you’ll notice several events will be triggered by the NSF payment.
1. When you reverse a payment, you’ll receive a warning message that informs you that delinquency processes will occur within the next 10 minutes.
2. You’ll notice that the NSF will appear on the tenant’s history page and the payment that was reversed will now be labeled as VOID.
3. Over the next 10 minutes, the tenant’s account will cycle through all delinquency stages up to the stage that would have been triggered before their NSF payment. For example, if your tenant would have been at the auction stage of delinquency, they will cycle through every delinquency stage leading up to the auction stage again. This also means that any emails or print documents associated with these delinquency stages will be sent or generated. If you are using Mail House to send delinquency documents, they will be triggered to be sent again by the system, and your facility will be charged for this mail. Additionally, any fees associated with the delinquency stages will be charged to the tenant.
Delinquency Settings
storEDGE's standard delinquency policy is that a unit must have its rent balance paid down to $0.00 before it can exit delinquency and any amount of unpaid rent can start delinquency actions on a unit. This means that partial payments typically do not prevent or reset delinquency stages.
You can change that from within the Settings section of the Delinquency section within Software Settings.
If you want to prevent units with small balances from going into delinquency, click the Yes radio button and enter an amount in the field next to $.
To select which facilities to apply this Custom Enter Delinquency balance in, click the Facilities dropdown and check which facilities you'd like to apply.
If you want to trigger units that have paid in part to exit delinquency, click the Yes radio button and enter that acceptable amount next to $:
To select which facilities to apply this Custom Exit Delinquency balance in, click the Facilities dropdown and check which facilities you'd like to apply.
Once finished, click Save.
Editing and Deleting Delinquency Stages
Editing or deleting delinquency stages should be done rarely and with care. Any edits made to a schedule will only impact tenants that enter delinquency after the changes are made. When an edit to a schedule is made, all currently delinquent tenants will remain on their previous version of the schedule. You can see what version a tenant is using from the individual tenant delinquency page. You can also view the history of schedules assigned to facilities from the “Schedule History” page under Corporate Delinquency.
If in doubt when editing your delinquency stages, contact us at support@storedge.com and we’ll advise you on the best way to make adjustments without adversely affecting currently delinquent tenant accounts.
Visit our Recurring Delinquency Stages guide for important factors to consider before making changes to your recurring delinquency stages.
For considerations about making changes to your non-recurring delinquency stages, check out our Non-Recurring Delinquency Stages guide.
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